Pillar pages are structured around the concept of topic clusters. Instead of choosing long tail keywords you choose broad topic areas you want to rank for. Then you create content based on keywords related to the topic that all link to each other so that you create a broader authority with search engines. The benefit of this structure is that it is more deliberate in organizing and linking together URLs that relate to a cluster of topics. This in turn assists your site in getting more pages ranked in Google and helps searchers to locate your content more easily.

What Is A Pillar Page?

A pillar page is the basis on which you build a topic cluster. It covers all aspects of a specific topics on a single page and provides room for more in-depth reporting via hyperlinks to cluster blog posts that link back to the pillar page. While pillar pages cover a specific topic, cluster content addresses a specific keyword that is related to that topic at a much deeper level. Pillar pages are normally longer than typical blog posts because they cover all aspects of a specific topic you are trying to rank for. Although longer they are higher level with less detail. Details should be left to cluster content blogs.

Creating A Topic Cluster

Think about topics that address the top interests and challenges your target customers experience. Make your topic broad enough so you can generate more related blog posts that can serve as cluster content. The topic has to be contained to one page so don’t get too carried away. A topic like “Social media” would be too large but “Instagram marketing” is big enough to develop related blog posts that address Instagram marketing techniques in greater detail but specific enough to write a good solid pillar page about it. The second important function of a pillar page is to answer any questions the searcher might ask about the topic. When the searcher clicks into your pillar page then they will click into those pillar page hyperlinks that provide more specific, in-depth knowledge.

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